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Tuesday, 6 September 2011

Finally managed to run 5km without stopping. No walking breaks. Got lucky on road crossings so no pause for them either. Result.

It was a road run today. The weather was very blustery, wet underfoot and slight drizzle falling as I headed out at 7.20am. The few little hills I had on the run were all run up too - that's an improvement on the last time I ran the same hills when I needed to walk.

I held a steady pace so I could keep going without needing walk breaks. I don't know whether it's more a mental thing, or a physical one. I have thoughts for each side. Today was mental. Just keep going, steady steady. I can do it. I can do it. My legs felt strong but I've not had the same luck with my lungs lately so I promised myself a short walk break if I made it to 3km. That distance came and went. I carried on running. The 4km distance came and I felt like I wanted to stop but got determined to make it to 5. Then 5km came and I'm on a slight incline towards home....time to cool down so I walk a little, jog a little, walk the last 100m.

Excellent. I feel good for getting out early, running in the rain and getting to the 5km distance in 29 minutes.

As for the weather, it was windy. Woodhead road was closed this morning. That makes me feel even better about the run as my lungs were working well.

and it actually tasted ok. no weird broccoli taste at all. since my efforts to lose weight/get leaner started I've been making smoothies with water, not milk. I think it makes them fresher on the palate.

Friday, 2 September 2011

Out for 6.30am this morning heading out for a run with Tim. Glorious morning, lots of mist and haze around though could still make out hills in the distance. It felt good to be up so early, getting out on the path before anyone else. We had a steady uphill section followed by a flat bit, the uphill got me puffing and panting, probably not the best way to warm up at the start of a run! I got more into my stride on the flat...

I can't say too much about the location of this run...we were out to grab the DPFR September calendar box....and we succeeded :)

After a fair bit of bracken bashing to find a path which didn't exist we chose to head back up hill, find our original path then head to the hidden location from a different angle. The plan worked. Not 5 minutes back towards path #1 we find a slightly better than well worn trod which is pretty runable - I'm not yet adept at bracken running...something else to practice.

Down a little, then a steady uphill trod which I manage to run most of...give or take a few map check pauses. There's a discussion about wall angles, paths to take and which is the best route to approach the vague location we're heading to. Luckily the path we choose is a direct bee-line straight to the Calendar Box. Yey! It's not a particularly well hidden one this month, but it'd be a difficult one to find if you heather/bracken bashed from anywhere other than the trod we were on.

After a brief pause to sign our names in the log book (we were the first this month, bonus) we're retracing our steps to pick up another trod....and heading back to the car. We had about 1.5km on road at the end, including an uphill stretch I managed to run all the way up, quite chuffed with that one, and I ran all the way back to the car.

8.69km in total
total time is 1:38:43 but that did include map reading, bracken bashing, walking and photo shots of grouse (I'd post a pic but it would give the location away!).
Moving time 1:17:23
Average pace: 8:54/km (which isn't all that bad considering stopping times)

Moral of today's run. Get up early and get out there. Best time of day.